Main Interests

My research main interest is to understand the role of Tannerella forsythia on the development of periodontal disease with particular focus on the study of new putative virulence factors. T. forsythia is a major periodontal pathogen strongly associated with periodontitis and a member of the Red complex (Tannerella forsythia, Porphyromonas gingivalis and Treponema denticola). It was first isolated at Forsyth Institute by Anne Tanner and Sig Socransky, and named in recognition to its discoverers and the Institute. As standpoint, I have studied the gene expression profiles of oral communities on progressing and stablished periodontitis using Metatranscriptomic analysis. I have focused my research on understanding what is happening to T.forsythia, in the real context of the complex oral microbial communities and the host. We have found that during disease progression T.Forsythia is expressing at high level a protein causing collagen destruction in the tooth supporting structures. Collagen is the main component on the periodontium and its degradation lead to the loss of tooth, decreasing the quality of life of the patient. For the last 14 years I have been working on the biology of the anaerobes. As a postdoctoral fellow at University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, I carried out research on in vivo recombination of Bacteroides conjugative transposon CtnDOT, a genetic element involved in the spread of erythromycin resistance. Later on, I moved to The Forsyth Institute, where I started my research on the study of the genes controlled by Two Component Systems most in P.gingivalis.
As mentioned above, currently, the main focus of my research is understanding the contribution of Tannerella forsythia to the progression and development of periodontitis